Charles Miano

Ray Charles was the musician most responsible for developing soul music. Singers like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson also did a great deal to pioneer the form, but Charles did even more to devise a new form of black pop by merging '50s R&B with gospel-powered vocals, adding plenty of flavor from contemporary jazz, blues, and (in the '60s) country. Then there was his singing; his style was among the most emotional and easily identifiable of any 20th century performer, up there with the likes of Elvis and Billie Holiday. He was also a superb keyboard player, arranger, and bandleader. The brilliance of his 1950s and '60s work, however, can't obscure the fact that he made few classic tracks after the mid-'60s, though he recorded often and performed until the year before his death.

These four CDs represent the most creative period of Ray Charles’ life – roughly 1954 to 1962. He died in 2004 and, at the time of his death, was working on a duets album which was released, very appropriately, as Genius And Friends. When the excellent bio-pic, Ray was released with Jamie Foxx, one of the straplines was a quote from Frank Sinatra, “Ray Charles is the only genius in our business.”